Heddle



SePt- 4, 1934- c. w. GElER 1,972,296

HEDDLE TWL MMM INVENToR COA/RAD W- G15/ER ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 4, 1934 HEDDLE Conrad Walter Geier, Hazleton, Pa., assignor to Duplan Silk Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application october 1o, 1932, serial No. 637,090 y. 4

2 claims. (cl. 139-96) This invention relates to improvements in loom harness and has particular reference to heddle construction.

Standard types of heddles are made, each with 5 a single slot intermediate its ends and the portions adjacent said slots are bentV in opposite directions to form an eye through which a warp end is threaded. Experience has demonstrated that, not withstanding the fact that the heddle is held at each end on the bars of the harness, the exibility of the heddle and its length are such that the same has a tendency to turn or twist between its ends, such tendency being directly proportional to the tension on the warp threads. This turning or twisting of the heddle has been found to over-stretch the thread, pinch and chafe it and sometimes results in the actual breaking thereof due to its engagement with the edges of the slot forming the eye. It has been heretofore proposed to provide a heddle with longitudinal slits extending from a medial point to one end of the heddle so as to form free tongues the inner ends of which are oiset in different directions to form an eye for the thread or warp end. The free ends of the tongues are not secured in any manner, as by attachment to a heddle bar, so that a thread may be inserted between said tongues and moved inwardly to a position where it passes through the eye. Such a construction has the advantage of permitting the simultaneous withdrawal of a plurality of warp threads from the heddles after a fabric has been woven and is suitable for use with heavier types of material; but an open end heddle of this character has no practical use when weaving silk. rayon or other light threads because, due to the repeated lifting of the loom harness during the weaving operation, such threads would gradually work out of the heddle eyes and between the tongues where they would become pinched or broken. Furthermore, the fact that the tongue end of the heddle is not mounted upon a heddle bar increases the possibility of the heddle turning or twisting during operation of the loom and thus imparts to it the same objectionable feature as above pointed out in connection with the standard type of heddle. In accordance with the present invention, it is proposed to overcome the difficulties inherent in 50- the types of heddles above-mentioned by the use of a construction of heddle which is designed to be held at both ends on heddle bars and which is provided, intermediate its ends, with'an eye the ends of which are closed so as to effectively retain the thread therein,V and which is so formed that two spaced portions of the part of theheddle constituting said eye will engage the thread on the opposite side ltlfiereoffrom that which is contacted by a third portion ofthe heddle.

The inventive idea involved is capable of receiving a variety of mechanical expressions, one of Y which, for the purposes of illustration, vis shown in the accompanying drawing wherein VFigure l is a fragmentary side elet/"ationl ofk a heddle constructed in accordance with the invention and showing the same mounted on heddie bars, the latter being shown in section.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevational view taken at right angles to Figure l indicating a plurality of heddles mounted upon the bars.

Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary elevation of the intermediate portion of a heddle showing a warp end in position, and' Figure 4 is an edge elevation of Figure 3, the 75 warp end being shown in section.

The heddle 5 of the present invention is preferably made from an elongated flat strip of steel having a large degree of exibility, but it is contemplated that it may also be made round in cross 30 section. The loom harness upon which a plurality of the heddles are adapted to be mounted includes the heddle bars 6 designed to be passed through elongated slits 7 formed in each end of the heddle so as to support the latter during the usual operation of the loom and maintain all of the heddles in substantially parallel relation to each other.

In conforming with the present invention theV medial portion of the heddle 5 is provided with 90 a closed eye which is formed by cutting in the heddle blank two co-extensive slits 8 spaced apart and extending longitudinally of vthe heddle to form an intermediate or central strip 9 and two outer spaced strips 10. To provide the eye through which the warp end 1l is adapted to be threaded the intermediate strip 9 is offset by ap-v pending the same laterally in one direction with respect to the plane of the heddle while the strips 10 are similarly bent in an opposite direction. In 1,00 this manner, when the warp end is in position, the Ytwo strips 10 constituting one side of the eye will have a two-point bearing on the side of the thread opposite Vto that which `is engageable by l the intermediate or central strip 9. As a conse- '.105 quence of this three-point contact of the heddle eye with the Warp end, any tendency of the heddleV to twist or turn, which tendency is not overcome by the mounting of the ends of the heddle 'no lio' 2 on the bar 6, will be prevented and damage to the warp end that would otherwise result from such turning or twisting will be eliminated.

What is claimed is:

1. A lightweight heddle designed to receive silk or rayon warp ends and particularly designedk so that the heddle will not twist or turn even though said warp ends be under relatively high tension, said heddle consisting of a iiat, elongated, narrow metal strip, a short central portion of which is provided with two slits spaced from each other and from the edges of the strip of metal forming the heddle, said slits being parallel to the sides of the strip and dividing the center portion of said strip of metal into three portions of substantially the same width and length, said portions being oset, and the portions of said heddle above and below said center portion being solid and unslittedwhereby an eye will be formed by ysaid offset portions which :will be closed at both ends, rsaid oiset portions being arranged so that the two outside portions will engage one side of a warp andthe intermediate portion the other side thereoffthe oset portions being bent so that the eyel will be oi. vertically elongated diamond shape with the sides thereof rounded and with the side walls thereof converging along straight lines vertically upwardly and downwardly fromy the place of maximum width of the eye,

said side walls merging into said heddle at the upper and lower ends of the eye.

2. A lightweight heddle designed to receive silk or rayon warp ends and particularly designed so that the heddle will not twist or turn even though said warp ends be under relatively high tension, said heddle consisting of a flat elongated, narrow, metal strip, a short central portion of which is provided with two slits spaced from each other and from the edges of the strip of metal forming the heddle, said slits being parallel to the sides of the strip and dividing the center portion of said strip of metal into three portions of substantially the same width and length, with the portion of the heddle between said slits offset to one side of the plane of the heddle and the portions exteriorly of said slits offset to the other side of said heddle, the portions ci said heddle on both sides of said center slitted portion being solid and unslitted whereby an eye will be formed by said offset portions which will be closed at both ends, the offset portions being lbent so that the eye will be of elongated diamond shape with the sides thereof rounded and with the side walls thereof converging along straight lines vertically upwardly and downwardly from the place of maximum width of the eye, said side walls merging into said heddle at the upper and lower ends of the eye.

CONRAD WALTER GEIER. 

